Chapter 33
Drafted by Grok 4.7 on 8 October 2026. First draft. Not independently reviewed. Leningrad Codex, through the Open Scriptures Westminster Leningrad Codex. The written consonants are printed. A Masoretic reading is footnoted when it differs. No Dead Sea reading was substituted unless it was read from a fragment. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions are witnesses, not the default.
1Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there was Esau coming, and four hundred men with him. He divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two servants.
2He put the servants and their children first, Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph last.
3He himself crossed over in front of them and bowed to the ground seven times, until he came near his brother.
4Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept.
5He lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, “Who are these with you?” He said, “The children with whom God has favored your servant.”
6Then the servants came forward, they and their children, and bowed.
7Leah also came forward with her children, and they bowed. After that Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed.
8He said, “What do you mean by this whole camp I met?” He said, “To find favor in the eyes of my lord.”
9Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother. Keep what is yours.”
10Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your eyes, then take my gift from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me.
11Please take my blessing that was brought to you, because God has favored me and because I have everything.” He urged him, and he took it.
12Then he said, “Let us set out and go, and I will go alongside you.”
13He said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and the flock and herd that are nursing are my care. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole flock will die.
14Let my lord go on ahead of his servant, and I will move on slowly, at the pace of the livestock ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
15Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” He said, “Why do that? Let me only find favor in the eyes of my lord.”
16So Esau turned back that day on his way to Seir.
17Jacob traveled to Succoth and built himself a house, and he made shelters for his livestock. Therefore the place is named Succoth.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Succoth means “shelters.”
18Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and he camped in front of the city.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Shalem can be the adverb “safely” or a place name, Salem. “Safely” is printed. Salem is not added as a town.
19He bought the piece of ground where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred qesitah.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
Qesitah is a unit of payment. The codex does not say whether it is a weight, a coin, or a sheep. The word is kept.
20He set up an altar there and called it El, God of Israel.